You could save hundreds in minutes on your Insurance
All too often first-time home buyers make the critical mistake of failing to calculate the total monthly cost of owning the property. They fixate on their interest rate and mortgage, and don’t remember that they will also be responsible for the cost of their homeowners insurance, utilities, HOA dues (if applicable), and taxes.
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The results of an insurance industry survey conducted by the consulting firm Tower Watson has revealed disturbing changes in the wind for 2014 when federal insurance exchanges will begin to operate under the Affordable Care Act. One in ten of the companies contacted for the survey said they would discontinue offering health insurance as an employee benefit, with an additional 20 percent undecided.
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If Hurricane Irene strikes the southeast United States the weekend of August 26 as expected, the event could be exactly what the insurance industry wants. While insurers won’t like paying out settlements, they will like having a valid excuse to raise rates after three years with no significant storm activity. Irene is predicted to graze east Florida, potentially making landfall in the Carolinas (with a margin of error of about 250 miles). Currently the strengthening hurricane is threatening the Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, and Puerto Rico. It’s also threatening the cheap insurance rates of everyone living in its path.
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Most of us worry about fairly mundane insurance concerns: auto, home, health, life. What does the coverage cost? How do I compare rates? Can I keep it inexpensive? Sometimes, it’s just nice to go whacky with the insurance, and look at how the other half lives, and what they think is worth covering with an extreme insurance policy. The craziest of the crazy? Famous people who insure their body parts . . . or by-products.
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The recession that began in 2009 and continues to plague the economy of this nation and the world today has shifted the perspective on life insurance. The necessity for the coverage and the specific goals the benefits are intended to address have changed markedly. Traditionally, the assumption has been that young couples take out life insurance to protect their children and surviving spouse in the event of their untimely death. The benefits were intended to cover lost wages and to go toward educational costs and the like. Those are still valid goals, however, if you no longer have young children your life insurance may well protect your adult offspring at a completely different phase of your life and theirs.
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Most homeowners understand that their insurance policies exist to protect their physical dwelling and to give them a degree of liability cover for injuries to visitors. Most don’t realize, however, that not being at home when disaster strikes is actually the easiest way to get your claim denied!
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If most Americans were honest, they would admit they know very little about the on-going battle for health care reform in the United States. They do, however, share common concerns. Will the changes make health insurance cost more, or will coverage become inexpensive enough that recession-strapped Americans can actually afford to pay the rates?
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Isn’t it interesting that the youngest people who hold insurance policies are the ones least likely to be satisfied with either their coverage or their insurer? According to a study done by J.D. Power and Associates in 2010, the members of “Generation Y,” who were born between 1977 and 1994, just don’t like the old fogies running the insurance world. That’s right! The kids are mad as heck, and they’re not going to take it any more!
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The film “The Social Network” clearly illustrates that the idea for Facebook actually did not originate in a good spirit. Some would argue that things have not improved in the land of social networking, including your insurance company. Increasingly, participating in sites like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace is seen as high risk behavior by insurers. The day may not be far away when such activity will make inexpensive rates a difficult proposition for some users.
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Unquestionably, GEICO has produced some of the funniest insurance commercials out there. Who doesn’t recognize their caveman spots or that adorable little gecko with the British accent and bright eyes? Some of their most clever recent ads, however, are built around the question, “Can Geico save you 15% or more on care insurance.” The Abe and Mary Todd Lincoln “backside look big” spot built on that theme is an absolute masterpiece of comedic timing.